Hi everyone - So this is the first weekend after school started and man, the teachers are not easing us back into college life. I have a ton of homework! At least its all interesting. There have been a few changes since my last post. For one, I dropped the Form and Space class, it was not any better the second day, and the things that were being covered were not what I thought would be covered. Instead I have switched to an all day Friday Furniture class. There are some downsides to this class, like the fact that I have to now get up and catch the shuttle at 7:20 to arrive on time to my 9:00 class.The shuttle does not run that often on Fridays, and if I was to try and get their on my own it would take over an hour. It does promise to be an interesting class and I will be getting all the basic wood shop stuff.. There is really only one project to the whole class as working in wood takes a while. We will all be making a table, not a large table, we don’t have the time/space/money to do that so think more end tables, bedside tables, and coffee tables.The other two classes I have not told you guys about would be my English class, and my Workshop class. My English class looks like its going to really be a English class, we are going to be reading lots of non-fiction essays, and doing a fair amount of essay writing, and the teacher looks like he will be interesting.
The workshop class is going to be awesome! First a few notes, a workshop class at CCA takes a few majors and puts them in a class with a kind of theme (such as Fabrication) one is required for a jewelry major. This class is even a bit weirder than most Workshop classes because the other department (Besides jewelry) does not really exist. I was introduced to the two people who run this non-department late last year when I was talking to the head of the Interaction department. He got me in touch with them and I was invited to drop by and meet them. Its one large room in the animation department on the Oakland campus. You kind of enter through this tunnel of random stuff, such as wires, small motors, rusting grates and for some reason (maybe a pop of color) fake flowers. The end of the room is divided in two. The lower part houses several nice updated Mac computers and a large desk, and the second part of the room is a raised gallery that goes along one wall, which is crammed with stuff. This is where you get sent if you want to do something with computers and hydraulics and whatever art you already do. They have a room, two people on staff and even a budget, even though they are not an official department. I found out that they call themselves Department 51 (HaHa). Anyway, the class is taught in conjunction with 51 and the Jewelry department (David Cole) it looks like its going to be a really cool class, not sure what we will be doing, but our first project is a crash course in basic electronics and we are going to start by redesigning an Ikea lamp. So there is promise for this one and its worth being in such a late class.
The other big news this week is after a blood test run by my doctor, I have found out that I have a very bad wheat allergy (you know, to keep my dairy allergy company). I was very upset when I found out, maybe more upset than was required. But this came as a shock and will be a huge life change. I love all the foods that I can no longer eat. I know that lots of people live a gluten free and even gluten and dairy free life. I also know I will feel better. I know there are substitutions and that there is still plenty of food I can eat. I know that I will be healthier than the average American. I also know that my food bill will be more expensive. I know that eating out will get harder then it was before. I know that I will miss my bread (as i know it) and Pasta (as i know it). I know all this and its still going to be hard. Its going to take time to get used to the idea that I will never really be able to eat wheat again, so until then I’m trying to deal with this by doing other things, looking at all the foods I can eat, and dealing with it one day at a time.
Me and rice are now best friends
Now that its been a few days, I’m starting to see the world has not ended and that things could be worse and really this will be OK after a while , however I still have moments where I realize that I will never eat something again, such as Baklava or girl scout cookies, or most cookies for that matter. So its going to be hard.
I also said that last post I would talk about where i am living this year. I’m living off campus in a lovely house just a few blocks from campus. I’m renting a back bedroom, with a bathroom and a separate office space in the attic. On Sundays a few blocks over, there’s a farmers market. There are also two dogs. Does this beat the dorms? Oh yeah! 
P.S - you might have noticed I have changed the look of the blog what do you think?